Plastic Flight Stand (VSO102)

Plastic Flight Stand (VSO102)inlcudes one clear plastic Flight Stand suitable for all Flames Of War aircraft.

Tropic Lightning was our second tour in Vietnam; allowing us to expand on the content and model range for Flames Of War Vietnam. Since then, Tour Of Duty has expanded the range even further. But one of the most important and exciting refinements accompanied the release of Tropic Lightning; the introduction of new style of plastic flight stand suitable for all aircraft in Flames Of War including the helicopters featured in Flames Of War Vietnam.

Tip: Place your aircraft die in the die cavity after rolling for Air Support so you and your opponent can track the exact number of aircraft on any given flight.

Assembling The Flight Stand For Helicopter Use

Step 1.Cut the parts of the flight stand off the plastic
sprue and remove any excess plastic leftover from the mold feeds.

Tip:The best way to cut the parts off the sprue is
with a sharp hobby knife or a pair of hobby cutters.

Step 2. Attach to stem to the base.

Tip:When assembling the flight stand it is best
to use hobby glue especially formulated for plastics. However, Super
Glue can be used if you don't have access to specific plastic hobby
glue.

Step 3. If you plan on using the flight stand for helicopters add the magnet cap to
the top of the stem.

Note:The cap fits snugly to the top of the stalk, so only use a very small amount of glue to hold the magnet cap in place.

Step 4. The cap has a recess designed for the rare earth magnets included in the helicopter box sets. The cap is
designed especially to work in conjunction with the recess on the bottom
of the helicopters and the magnets to create a solid connection between
the stand and helicopter.

Note:The cap also a two tabs to match the two slots on the bottom of the helicopters.

Note: More recent Flames Of War aircraft miniatures that have been released have been made to accept the magnet cap method of attachment shown above.

How The Flight Stand, Magnets, and Helicopter Work Together

Step 1. In this example, you can see the magnet recess and slots that match the tabs of the magnet cap of the flight stand on the bottom of this Hueycobra.

Step 2. A magnet is the glued in the recess ensuring that the polarities of each magnet are correct i.e. one north; one south.

Step 3. Mated perfectly; the flight stand, helicopter and magnets create a solid, stable connection that can be easily removed.

An Alternate Way Of Using The Flight StandWith HelicoptersIf you are not a fan of using rare earth magnets, here is a simple but effective way of using the plastic flight stand without them.

Step 2. Next, drill a hole in the top of the flight stand stem; a 2mm drill is the ideal size for our purpose. The hole only needs to be 3-4mm deep and keeping it as straight as possible would also be beneficial.

Below:The hole drilled into the top of the stem of the flight stand.

Below:The plug piece will be used upside to attach the Huey to the flight stand.

Step 3. Glue the up turned plug piece into the magnet reccess of the Huey.

Below:The stem of the flight stand can now attach to the up turned plug piece via the hole that was drilled into it and provide us with a way of attaching the Huey to the flight stand without using any rare earth magnets.

Assembling The Flight Stand For Aircraft Use

Some of the older Flames Of War aircraft you may already own would have been made prior to the existence the magnet cap method of attachment; however, we have kept this in mind. To use the flight stand with these old types of aircraft, instead of attaching the magnet cap simply replace it with aircraft pin.Right:The aircraft pin attach to the stem.Far right:Using the flight stand with an AOP.

Note: More recent aircraft miniatures that have been released have been made to accept the magnet cap and we are re-mastering other aircraft in the range to also accept the new method of attachment.

The Dual Purpose Flight Stand

For those of you who want to use the flight stand with helicopters and
any older Flames Of War aircraft that might be in your collection,
here’s a quick and easy solution.

Construct the flight stand as demonstrated above and add a magnet to the base of the aircraft pin. This will allow for a quick and easy swap between the two methods of attachment.